


Pink Quartz

by HikariHM



Category: Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Geology, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26523505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariHM/pseuds/HikariHM
Summary: “Because...! Just look at you,” he was starting to equal Steven’s mood, getting very bashful, flustered to unsuspecting extents. “You are handsome as hell. Everybody wants you. You are just the strongest there is, and also a businessman, and a geologist who knows lots of things and... you are the big deal.”“... a big deal who confesses his love with rocks, from all things.”***(Or, a birthday present for my dearest friend Pepper).
Relationships: Mikuri | Wallace/Tsuwabuki Daigo | Steven Stone
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27





	Pink Quartz

“So, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”

The way those words rolled out of his mouth, almost flirtatiously (‘ _ no, Steven, he isn’t flirting with you, wake up _ ’), and how he bent over ever so slightly while grinning...

Steven wished with all of his being to nod, to accept Wallace’s offer, but instead, his lips only twitched in a pitiful expression. 

“... I’d really like to but I have a business dinner with my dad, I can’t really miss it.”

Very smoothly, Wallace tilted his head, his bangs moving gracefully as he crossed his arms, “I guess duty is duty. Hope you have fun, though! I’m sure there will be a lot of beautiful women looking forward to dancing with you,” and then, he winked his eye.

Steven felt his throat getting dry; how did he even begin to explain that he wasn’t interested in any woman, or even man, but just in this gorgeous being standing dignified in front of him?

“Well, the thing is...” 

Sometimes Steven wondered if Wallace had a clue about these feelings: he was smart and intuitive, he couldn’t be completely unaware of them.

“What?”

And at times like this he just thought of letting him now, of giving him an obvious hint: ‘ _ that I’m not into women... that I’m into you... _ ’

He shook his head, leaving the problem for another time, “well, we could hang out some other day.”

“Sounds nice! I might have to go to Mossdeep next week so what about we met at yours?”

It was Steven’s turn to chuckle, “you sure? I’ve done interesting additions to my rock collection and you know I can’t help myself and it will probably end up in me giving you a lecture about geology.”

Flipping his hair, smirking to a side, displaying such endearing dimples, Wallace laughed, “I’m well aware. But don’t worry, Steven, you are lucky to be handsome and have a nice voice so it’s quite the delight to listen to you.”

Goddammit.

Steven felt the heat arising in his body, culminating in his pale cheeks which helplessly would soon turn red, his throat getting even tighter and his hands beginning to sweat.

Should he reply with something as flirtatious? Could he elaborate those words with as much confidence and as casually? Or would he stutter some nonsense? Was that even a flirtatious line or was it just Wallace throwing compliments as he always threw at people? 

“You are a great friend, you are the only one who listens to my lectures.”

That one statement gave him the impression that Wallace’s mouth twitched in confusion and self consciousness.

“Because I’m a curious man myself and I always want to learn something new.”

Had he totally killed the mood?

“Well, then, let me know whenever you are free so I tidy up the house and prepare something nice.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, noodle-head,” once more, that damned nickname Wallace had picked for him, that sounded so mischievous, that gave him a sense of complicity, that made his heart flutter, “I’ll bring lunch with me, so you eat something different than noodles for a day.”

“Okay, okay...”

“Alright, now, I gotta go back to Sootopolis but it was very nice to see you today, Steven.”

A bit too sincerely, he smiled and replied, “I also liked to see you today.”

And his silly heart stopped the moment Wallace gently stretched his arms, gesturing that he wanted a hug.

And Steven would always indulge one.

So, he approached him effusively, and wrapped his arms around the delicate frame of his body, and sunk his face on his chest, getting so high on the gentle sea salt scent and watermelon fragrance that clung to his clothes and hair and skin, and this was the little moment when his heart felt at ease, relieved, wishing no other thing but that time could stop to remain a bit longer like this, as these hugs were never as long as he wanted them to be.

“Noodle-head,” Wallace added playfully yet lowly, Steven wanted to think that even lovely, placing a hand to Steven’s hair.

“I eat more than noodles, you know?” he replied clumsily, as he was afraid remaining silent would come out as weird.

“I don’t believe you,” and he squeezed the slightest bit tighter.

For a second Steven thought of maybe squeezing the embrace too, of maybe letting his hands wonder over Wallace’s back, or his waist… but then he reminded that they were just friends, that he couldn’t ask for more than this completely platonic hugs and touches and...

… And that was why it pained him when they had to pull away in the sake of continuing with their daily errands. It was always so hard to let go of Wallace, to accept that he’d be far doing his own thing, going to flirt with all those cool girls sticking by his side while he’d have to boil and cook in his own feelings.

“See you around, Steven.”

Now he was heading to the door.

“See you soon, Wallace. Take good care of yourself.”

“You too! Don’t forget to drink enough water.”

And like that, with such cliché line, his best friend left the place. 

When he was sure he was totally on his own... Steven collapsed into the couch, covering his face with his hands, wailing, so terribly ashamed.

Why couldn’t he behave like a normal person around Wallace? When did this even start? Why one day he still could talk to Wallace with full confidence and why now he felt his knees becoming jelly whenever Wallace flashed one of those gorgeous smiles at him, whenever he laughed, whenever he said his name as if Steven had never heard it before, whenever he hugged him and-

_ Ugh _ .

He fell, and he fell hard on his very knees. He was head over heels for Wallace. He felt goosebumps and butterflies flutter in his apprehensive stomach, and his moving parts disarming whenever he was around.

But Wallace didn’t know. No. He surely must think Steven regarded him in the most platonic of ways, that, or that he was a high rank coward. Maybe this was a bit like a show for him, a show where Steven humiliated himself by coming up with the silliest lines and just got more and more embarrassed.

The love words got stuck in his throat each time more, making it burn by holding them back... yet, Steven was afraid that maybe this all might be only in his head, that he was mistaking Wallace’s kindness as flattery, and at moments he decided to just stop there and not hint at all that Wallace was the one he loved the most and wanted to wake up next to and kiss and give nice presents to and hug mindlessly and show off to all of his friends and relatives and-

If only Wallace looked at him as anything more, if only Wallace made the call...

This was way too consuming already. Steven could barely place his thoughts and feelings where he wanted them to be. At nights his sleep was troubled because he’d spent minutes on end rolling on the bed imagining scenarios with Wallace, imagining he walked through the door and said those words he was dying to listen to and-

Now, there in the couch of his office in Evergrande, he was blushing and whining as his heart skipped fast with affliction, feeling so taken aback, so out of himself, so eager. 

He must collect his nerve and just let Wallace know he was the one he’d fallen for. This was consuming him already.

* * *

Just as he promised, Wallace paid a visit to Steven in Mossdeep, bringing along with him a nice, fresh lunch he prepared himself, because as his sister would say: ‘ _ the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach _ ’.

Steven enjoyed the meals quite a lot, he looked happy when he ate something other than noodles or that frozen food he was used to, and after cleaning up the dishes, as promised, he went to Steven’s studio where he saved his most precious examples of rocks and minerals.

First, he started rambling about a dolomite he found, then a fluorite, and then-

“The other day I also found this.”

And he pulled out a quartz. A pink quartz.

“This one is an interesting exemplar because it is sort of heart-shaped, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I can see it’s somehow shaped.”

Grinning happily, like a little kid, Steven jumped right into his lecture about pink quartz, even if Wallace had pretty much already heard about regular quartzes before.

“Well, you know, the formation of quartz usually happens as massive, anhedral occurrences in hydrothermal veins and pegmatites.”

Wallace just nodded, indulgently. 

“Though, well, as you can see, this one here is pink! The pink color of quartz is attributed to microscopic inclusions of a pink variety of the mineral dumortierite. You know, these inclusions are usually abundant enough to make the rose quartz translucent instead of transparent.”

Once more, he nodded, trying his best to pay attention to every single word his dear friend expressed. 

“Rarely, quartz occurs as transparent euhedral crystals with a pink color. These are usually late-stage mineralizations in pegmatite pockets. The color of these specimens, especially those that are transparent, is thought to be caused by irradiation-induced color centers,” and he paused, to display the quartz better. “This one exemplar here is transparent, but transparent quartz isn’t quite common as I just said, so this one is more special than the average, you can tell.”

“That’s great, Steven.”

“It is! Even if this one is transparent it has a pretty rich color, as you can see! This happens when pieces are at least a centimeter in diameter or thickness because of the material’s weak color. With a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and a lack of cleavage-”

Whenever Steven got really technical about his rocks, Wallace couldn’t help but tune out a bit of the actual talk; yet, it wasn’t as if he was ignoring Steven and just pretending to pay attention, no, in fact he was paying a lot of attention to him, but in other ways.

For example, in the way his eyes shone everytime he stared once more at the quartz in his hand, how his brows rose delicately with excitement, how his soft hair moved ever so smoothly with every motion of his head he did, how a sheepish, kind smile danced over his lips when he added a new detail to his explanation, how his voice changed depending on what he was explaining, how sometimes it became bass, then a bit high pitched while trying to make a point that should come out as shocking and-

Wallace sighed mentally, self indulgently, even.

If Steven wasn’t beautiful, so irremediably attractive, if that smile, the look of his eyes, the way he displayed white pearls or how his ringed hands twisted the quartz between his fingers weren’t all alluring to extreme extents. 

Wallace never found rocks and minerals as something interesting, in fact, in younger days he would just kick them or throw them to a lake without paying more attention to them, but here he was, listening to Steven’s endless rambles, because whatever thing Steven told him, for lame it was, would sound as the most compelling or narratives for Wallace.

Ah... he wondered when this happened. When did he become this absolute lovefool bringing lunch to a man to then just listen to him on end instead of doing something funnier. No, this was his new idea of fun, even. 

At the beginning it was quite amusing to see how Steven got all clumsy around him, how he flustered at the slightest suggestion and flirtatious line, how he could barely handle having a man crush and would come up with struggled lines and responses. Wallace sometimes, out of mischief, would purposefully say something very flirtatious only to see Steven’s reaction and look endeared at this suave man melting over a crush.

But just like falling asleep, slowly, very slowly, and from one moment to another sudden and without realizing, Wallace began to feel these warm feelings growing inside him, and finding himself wanting to silence Steven in the middle of a ramble, yes, but with the most tender of kisses, to then just hold him between his arms, to make him sit on his lap to spread little pecks all over his face and listen to his endless lectures like that, embracing each other, wrapped in blankets. 

... And these silly thoughts always made him roll his eyes at himself.

And the more he thought about it, the more nervous he got about the matter, because... Steven would get very flustered, yes, but then would call him “friend” just like when they met at Evergrande, and that only made Wallace wonder if Steven was in fact into him or only got flustered because of the shameless flirt but not in a good way, instead, in an uncomfortable way that led to him setting a boundary by calling him friend and-

Why Steven had to be so cute? Why did he have to have that boyish look that he loved in a man? Why did he have to be such a gentleman? And dress up so fine, and have those classy mannerisms, that gentleness, and carry that sweet and expensive Kalosian vanilla fragrance with him?

Why did Steven have to be everything he wanted and more? Why did he have to be so gorgeous that it actually hurt to see him and not being able to break the invisible barrier of physical and emotional distance? Why was he so damn afraid of screwing this up?

Well, that one was quite an easy question. Steven was handsome, polite, the strongest trainer of the region, passionate, hardworking, smart, interesting... he was the big shot, and messing up with a man like him... Wallace knew he wouldn’t be meeting anyone quite like Steven ever again, no one could compare with this rich boy of his that had to be so delicate and humble and-

“Anyways,” he bit his lip in that way that made Wallace want to throw everything away and just kiss him right there and then. “You know people not only focus on the geological properties of minerals. So... heh...”

That damned chuckle. Wallace couldn’t help but tilt his head to stare at this man with adoration and get lost in the moves of his lips verbalizing his endless and repetitive lecture. 

“People say that pink quartzes are supposed to... be a present for someone you love and cherish. They say... pink quartzes carry an energy of compassion, tenderness, comfort and... unconditional love. That’s why... i-it reminded me of you.”

... Wait.

_ What?  _

Before Wallace could even be sure that he heard right what Steven just said (why did he have to be so distracted?), clumsily, Steven dared to grab his hand, then opened it, placed the heart shaped pink quartz in his palm and coaxed his fingers to grasp it.

Having the hardest time to look at his eyes, but doing it anyways, Steven said, “I... I want you to keep it.”

What in the world?

Was this...

Was this a confession?

… Or did he listen wrong?

Wallace was about to mentally kick himself, yet reminded he needed to react, and so, he just managed:

“W-What?”

Looking away impatiently, frowning, blushing furiously, Steven replied, “come on, Wallace, weren’t you listening to anything I said?”

Taken aback, deafened by the harsh noise of his heart beating on his very ears, Wallace stuttered, “I-I... I don’t know if I listened well...”

The suave, badass Steven Stone hissed, then pouted, “I just said the most embarrassing thing I’ve said in my 25 years alive and... you weren’t listening?!” He tried to collect his nerve but failed terribly at it. “You know what? I won’t repeat it- Keep that quartz and assume whatever thing you think I just told you-”

“You mean it... as friends?”

Yes, those were the only words he managed.

“Are you serious?”

Steven had his heart all on his sleeve and it was undeniable.

“N-No, Wallace, damn, why would I get through all this trouble of getting you a transparent pink quartz and making a heart shape to it if I meant it as friends?!” this didn’t seem to be enough now, no. “I- I like you way more than just a friend, alright? I’m- I’m in love with you and I thought I was obvious all along and-”

At this, Wallace began laughing. Yes. Laughing.

Which only made Steven more distressed.

“W-What?!”

Wallace shook his head, “I’m such an idiot- I’m must be dreaming or something. I’m gonna wake up from this ashamed and-”

“What do you mean?”

“I just... this is unbelievable, Steven, all jokes aside, I really, really didn’t believe you were also in love with me.”

Steven almost laughed. Almost.

“Why not?”

“Because...! Just look at you,” he was starting to equal Steven’s mood, getting very bashful, flustered to unsuspecting extents. “You are handsome as hell. Everybody wants you. You are just the strongest there is, and also a businessman, and a geologist who knows lots of things and... you are the big deal.”

“... a big deal who confesses their love with rocks from all things.”

That had been adorable, Wallace wouldn’t lie. 

“It wouldn’t be you if there weren’t rocks involved.”

“See what I mean? You are the only one who truly gets me, Wallace... And... The first person to make me feel this way. I’ve never felt this much with anyone else. And if I’m the big deal- you are the biggest deal.”

Having ran out of words already, he chuckled nervously.

“You are famous, you are a guardian, you are very strong yourself, and a contest idol, and so beautiful that it’s surreal, and...”

This was evidently more than what Steven had originally meant to say.

“... please accept the quartz.”

Wallace payed closer attention to the quartz on his hand; it was indeed beautiful, transparent yet with a very deep pink color, and he started to imagine all the trouble Steven must have gone through to get this one piece shaped so perfectly. So, silently, he pressed it against his chest, taking his time to find the right words to thank his friend for this.

And Steven only shook his head, growing nervous with each second spent silent, “o-of course… if you want… don’t feel forced to accept it if… you know… you think there’s a reason to not…”

“... I also cherish you, Steven. Dearly.”

That was growing awkward quickly, in a good way for once.

“Oh…”

“Y-Yeah…”

“So... if I asked you to... to… to date me...”

“... I wouldn’t mind dating you, Steven. I... pretty much would like that.”

Now both looked away.

“So... that makes us... boyfriends?”

Wallace nodded, “guess you are my boyfriend now.”

And that was the moment when Steven finally got loose and burst in laughter.

And Wallace did too.

“We are so ridiculous,” his now boyfriend exclaimed in that sweeping way of his, a pinch of relief clear on his voice.

“We really are... to make up all this drama for nothing?”

“I was literally dying of shame everyday, like, this was consuming me so much that I couldn’t sleep at night thinking of how I would tell you, afraid that you could have rejected me and- I can’t believe how ridiculous I am.”

And like that, contently, smiling from ear to ear, they approached each other and finally united in the first hug they shared as a couple now.

Steven squeezed him tight, so tight, while chuckling and humming pleased, touching his back. And Wallace... he finally dared to touch Steven’s hair without an excuse, and landed a soft kiss to his head, and then squeezed him tight too, sighing relieved, his hold body shaking after holding back these feelings for too long.

To play cool as he always did when he was embarrassed, Wallace asked him, “you don’t flirt with men usually, do you?”

Steven hissed, “oh, shut up. I’m not used to flirt with everyone like you do.”

“The only one I was flirting with all this time was you. Your noodle-head is making your skull thicker.”

“The one with the thick skull here is you, who actually believed there was a possibility I wasn’t into you...”

And both laughed, and pulled away ever so slightly to be able to look at each other’s face, to get convinced this was real, that their loved one, the person they were so attracted to was actually staring back at them with the same adoration.

They smiled together, getting lost into each others eyes, giggling while blushing because this had been so ridiculous, and then...

Wallace’s eyes focused on Steven’s lips, in the way he breathed alluringly close to him now, in how hesitating and awaiting Steven seemed, and Wallace couldn’t tell if he was the one to actually give in and lean forward, or if it was Steven the one to get in his tiptoes, but-

After a shared laughter, so naturally like matter gives in to gravity, their lips met; it was a brief touch, just a little, daring peck, a ‘ _ I’m just going to give you a little kiss so you don’t think I’ve been daydreaming with doing this everyday, it’s not my intention to be this eager _ ’ peck. And more shy, little pecks followed, until neither could hold it back any longer and a proper, long kiss took place.

Wallace was frowning, amazed by how this passion, how this utter love was overflowing him so quickly and just like that, holding on tighter to Steven, caressing his face and back, while Steven just softly hummed, his clumsy hands recognizing for once his body.

“You are gorgeous,” Wallace whispered between the little breaks they made to catch their breaths, because now he had told Steven about his purest feelings he couldn’t seem to stop.

“You are so good, Wallace, so damn good...”

This time it was the formerly bashful Steven the one to pull him in, wrapping his arms around his neck and just tossing his beret to be able to touch his hair, one he apparently had been amazed of all this time.

It was great to finally be able to break that barrier, to be allowed to be so close and display affection in such a dreamy way...

“You are so damn adorable,” Wallace squeezed Steven’s cheek as he smiled endeared at him.

“Please, hold me, don’t stop hugging me, I don’t want to let go of you.”

And they didn’t pull away anytime soon. They kept kissing and kissing and making jokes and kissing and kissing more, either their mouths, cheeks, temples, foreheads... but after all the pining, Wallace couldn’t bring himself to not kiss Steven, to not indulge him in this way...

And Steven apparently couldn’t bring himself to let go of him, to unwrap his arms, to leave his warm embrace.

Not that Wallace minded; he truly meant it, Steven was one of his kind, alluring, humble, dorky, strong, loving and passionate... there was no one quite like Steven. And he’d cherish, just like the pink quartz, this beautiful feeling and holy bond with utmost care and listen.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> What can I say??? Ever since we had that chat about how Steven and Wallace would confess I totally knew this had to be your birthday present :) it was so hard to not ramble about this in Twitter (lmao I was editing this and internally screaming because DAMN THIS WAS SO GAY AND I COULDNT TALK ABOUT IIIIT), but I had to keep the surprise aha! I hope you loved it and that it fit everything you had in mind when you told me about that hc :) happy birthday, you are the bestest.


End file.
